UFC on FOX 1's Ricardo Lamas thanks two-city camp for recent success

The Chicagoan found this out two years ago when he went to Miami with some teammates to “break up the monotony,” and maybe more accurately, save on his heating bills.

On that sun-drenched peninsula, he found a group of hungry fighters who perfectly complemented his training regimen, and now it’s a part of the routine he hopes will guide him to victory against Cub Swanson.

Lamas (10-2 MMA, 1-0 UFC) and Swanson (15-4 MMA, 0-0 UFC) meet on the preliminary card of UFC on FOX 1, which takes place Saturday at Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. The card streams live on Facebook while a main event pitting heavyweight champ Cain Velasquez against challenger Junior Dos Santos airs live on FOX.

It’s Lamas’ second fight in the UFC after an impressive TKO win over Matt Grice in his octagon debut at UFC on Versus 4. It was also an important turnaround after he got knocked out by Yuri Alcantra under the now-defunct WEC banner.

Lamas is 4-1 since he found the MMA Masters gym in Miami and still remembers his first day there. It was sparring day, and he found himself across from UFC vet Luis Palomino. While he sat and waited for the next round to begin, Palomino paced back and forth like a wild animal.

“He had this look on face like he wanted to kill me, and I’m looking around behind me like, ‘Is he mad at somebody behind me or something? Because I don’t know what I did to this kid.'” Lamas told MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio).

The round began with a five-punch onslaught from Palomino, and Lamas immediately knew he had found a home away from home.

Lamas now spends at least a month in Miami before every fight. His roots still lie in Chicago, where his grandmother recently passed away and he made the decision to dedicate his Nov. 12 fight to her. But he relishes the travel time.

Lamas also said it’s been tough getting his sparring partners to accurately mimic the aggressive Swanson, a fellow WEC vet that makes his octagon debut after multiple injuries benched him for a year. Swanson is an aggressive and unpredictable fighter, which ups the danger of Saturday’s fight.

“He’s one of those guys where you train everything and be ready for anything, and that’s what I’ve been doing,” Lamas said. “I’ve really got to be on my toes and bring my ‘A’ game.”

With that danger, though, comes the promise of an exciting fight, which could mean extra zeros on Lamas’ paycheck. That’s nice, he said, but not the only reason to do his job well.

“Just being in a fight like that is gratifying also,” he said. “Just knowing you went out there and put your entire heart into the fight, and hearing everybody cheer for you is gratifying enough.”

It’s likely, too, that it helps when he’s shoveling snow off his driveway at home. While it’s true that hot and cold is bad for your career, it’s not a bad deal for training.

MMAjunkie.com Radio broadcasts Monday-Friday at noon ET (9 a.m. PT) live from the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino’s Race & Sports Book. The show is hosted by Gorgeous George, MMAjunkie.com lead staff reporter John Morgan and producer Goze. For more information or to download past episodes, go to www.mmajunkie.com/radio.

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